‘Securing 20 million Koreans’ Nova Vax prevention effect 96%… Overtake Pfizer

On the 11th (local time), Reuters reported that the COVID-19 vaccine, which is being developed by NovaVax, showed a 96% preventive effect in the third phase clinical trial.

This is the result of a phase 3 trial conducted in the UK that exceeds the efficacy of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. Previously, Pfizer showed 95% efficacy and Modena showed 94.1% efficacy. The AstraZeneca vaccine recorded 62% of all doses, and the Janssen vaccine achieved an average of 66% of phase 3 prevention in various countries.

NovaVax vaccine is a vaccine that the Korean government announced last month that it has secured 20 million people. NovaVax, a developer, said that among the phase 3 test inoculations, there were no cases where the symptoms of Corona 19 worsened or died.

It has also been shown to have significant clinical effects against the mutant virus, NovaVax said. The preventive effect against the mutant coronavirus originating in the UK was 86%. However, as a result of the final phase 2, the efficacy against the mutant virus from South Africa dropped to 55.4%. The result of this phase 3 was conducted with 15,000 people aged 18 to 84 in the UK.

The NovaVax vaccine is a synthetic antigen vaccine. After synthesizing an antigenic protein, it is mixed with an immune enhancing agent and injected into the human body to induce an immune response. It is known to have high safety since it has been used for a long time as one of the most widely used vaccine methods. Hepatitis B vaccine and human papillomavirus vaccine (HPV, cervical cancer vaccine) were created in this way.

Unlike Pfizer, modder and vaccines, it has the advantage of being able to store and distribute in 2-8 degrees refrigerated conditions. In Korea, SK Bioscience plans to sign a technology introduction contract with NovaVax and produce NovaVax vaccine at its factory. The government plans to introduce 20 million doses of NovaVax vaccine, which it purchased earlier, in the second quarter, but the specific timing has not been determined yet.

Prior to the UK, in the third phase in the United States, elderly people over 65 years of age suffered difficulties because they left the test in order to get a vaccine for Pfizer or Moder. NovaVax believes that if there are not enough clinical participants over 65 years old in the United States, it can be replaced with clinical data conducted in the United Kingdom. According to CNBC, NovaVax believes that it could be approved for use as early as May if US regulators determine that UK clinical data are sufficient. However, it is expected that it will take another two months to obtain approval if the US demands clinical data.

Reporter Lim Sun-young [email protected]